Tag Archives: Shelby Lynne

The Missouri is my right arm, the Ohio is my left But I’m livin’ on the Mississippi River where I like life the best I don’t mind the west coast, and I don’t mind the east coast Oh, baby but I ain’t gonna live on no coast Some people say that the Mississippi River is the backbone of the nation They can say whatever they want, I won’t disagree with that statement I see people workin’ hard as ever, just wondering what I can do to make their lives better I’m just a plain ole Midwestern boy Gettin’ by on Central time
Pokey LaFarge “Central Time”

At the moment in this northern region of the Central Time Zone, it is frigid. Add to the brutal weather we’ve been having the stresses of finals and semester end projects for both students and faculty, and the preparations for the holidays, and you have a pretty stressful period of the year. At minimum, we hope you can stay warm, though we know that some are cold, someone’s furnace is misbehaving, someone’s home isn’t very well insulated, and for far too many, there is no home at all.

It might be time to take a breath and listen to some music. On Great River Radio this afternoon, we’ve got a couple things going. Having been present at an intimate show by Joe Henry last week, I’ve been listening to his music on repeat for several days. So I’m going to insert him into the playlist several times this afternoon. I do think he is one of the best songwriters in the business now, and these songs are good examples. I’ll also recognize the season, not with holiday music, but with some songs about winter and the cold. Of course, there is lots of new music, as well, including just released songs from Shelby Lynne, who released an EP of original gospel tunes yesterday. We’ll also hear from Joshua James, Jake Bugg, British folk rocker Passenger, and Norwegian songster Ane Brun. I’ll have a tune from Alex Ebert, the leader of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, except solo this time.

Pokey LaFarge will kick things off with the river song referenced above and I think you’ll love it.

I hope you can listen this afternoon as you take care of business, or later on the blog.

Within the circles of our liveswe dance the circles of the years,the circles of the seasonswithin the circles of the years,the cycles of the moonwithin the circles of the seasons,the circles of our reasonswithin the cycles of the moon.

Again, again we come and go,changed, changing. Handsjoin, unjoin in love and fear,grief and joy. The circles turn,each giving into each, into all.Only music keeps us here,

each by all the others held.In the hold of hands and eyeswe turn in pairs, that joiningjoining each to all again.

And then we turn aside, alone,out of the sunlight gone

into the darker circles of return.
Wendell Berry

Today, Great River Radio will offer a pre-Thanksgiving cornucopia of music, songs that will “keep us here, each by all the others held.” I know this is a busy day for many, as we prepare for family get-togethers tomorrow, family reunions, repeating traditions that have gone on for years, all the cycles of our lives playing out again. Bobby Womack will kick off the show with today’s river song and then we’ll hear from Bat For Lashes, The Civil Wars, Sweden’s El Perro Del Mar and The Raveonettes. We’ve got new local music from Haley Bonar and Ben Kyle, as well as from Joshua James and Los Angeles band Lavender Diamond. We’ll wind up GRR with some music about giving thanks.

Tune in this afternoon, or later on the blog. Maybe as you are doing your cyber shopping this weekend – that might be a good time to listen!

Early morning, April 4Shot rings out in the Memphis skyFree at last, they took your lifeThey could not take your pride “Pride (In The Name of Love)” – U2

The year 1968 was a turbulent one in America’s history. The Vietnam War staggered on – with the My Lai Massacre and Tet Offensive abroad and increasingly violent protests at home. We had The Poor People’s Campaign March on Washington, D.C., a Zodiac killer in California and a Black Power salute in Mexico City. And sadly, we had the assassinations of two great civil rights leaders – Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. The Minnesota History Center debuted the national “The 1968 Exhibit” in October – offering a comprehensive and fascinating view of one remarkable year. Great River Radio recommends taking an informative field trip during a cold winter’s day to catch the exhibit before it closes in February 2012.

So why do we mention 1968? Well, it also happens to be an notable year for music. We heard “Hey Jude” for the first time, got to know “Mrs. Robinson” a little bit better, and Marvin Gaye gave us a lesson on rumors and broken hearts long before Facebook with “I heard It Through The Grapevine.” We’re going to take a little dip into 1968 nostalgia today, with tracks by Laura Nyro, Janis Joplin, John Mayall and The Band.

We’ll also have some incredible new music by Rachael Yamagata, The Black Keys (!), Beirut, M83, Wilco, Alabama Shakes, Shelby Lynne and Deer Tick.

I don’t remember were we wild and youngAll that’s faded into memoryI feel like somebody I don’t knowAre we really who we used to beAm I really who I was Lucky Now (Ryan Adams)

Ryan Adam’s is now about 36, but it is never too early to start reminiscing about being wild and young, is it? In fact, Adams has been very prolific and has had lots of experiences as a musician, including a fairly long absence from music as he coped with hearing loss and dizziness as a result of Meniere’s disease. So he can reminisce.

We’re going to reminisce a bit, too. Brian just finished “Life” – Keith Richard’s recent sprawling autobiography and that has made us think of the Rolling Stones. We’ll be taking a look back at their music and some newer interpretations of their music, including from Ryan Adams himself.

We’ll also give you a taste of the new Tom Wait’s cd – his first set of new songs since 2004. As the NYT said this weekend, “Mr. Waits is acclaimed as an American marvel: a songwriter who can be smart and primal, raucous and meticulous, ethereal and earthy, bleak and comical…” We’re going to hear “Last Leaf” from this record which was released last week.

Tune in for music from a hot and energetic young band from Alabama, the Alabama Shakes, along with Lana Del Rey, M83, Shelby Lynne (playing the Dakota tomorrow night), Laura Marling (credited by Ryan Adams as inspiring his return to songwriting), Dessa and others.

Whether you listen live today or to the archived edition, we look forward to doing this show for you this afternoon!

Saxophone on the radioRecorded forty years agoAll I get for Christmas is blue

White lights on the Christmas treeThank God you are here with meAll I ever get for Christmas is blue
(Over The Rhine)

So many of the feelings we have during the holiday season seem to revolve around memories. Our childhood experiences come back to us stripped of any frustrations or anxieties, now just warm and lovely recollections of snow, decorated trees and the anticipation of gifts and the many foods that seemed to be enjoyed only in December. Among the memories many of us cherish are the songs and music of the season – whether it is Bing Crosby or Handel or the Ronettes.

For others, Christmas music can be incredibly annoying. As you stand in the cold pumping gas into your car you hear someone singing over the tinny outdoor PA – “it’s the most wonderful time of the year…” and you spill gas on your cold hands and wonder how you are going to pay the bills. Or your holiday memories just make you a little blue and you find yourself wishing for a different kind of music.

Great River Radio today offers our fifth annual holiday music program for your enjoyment and we hope that we’ll cover the bases for our listeners. We’ve found some old tunes and some obscure tunes (since it seems virtually every musician has made a holiday record) and some brand new stuff. We’ve got music from Artie Shaw, Coconut Records, Ella Fitzgerald, Smokey Robinson, Best Coast, Shelby Lynne, The Civil Wars, Little Jackie, Rufus Wainwright and Haley Bonar. You’ll hear some songs that are familiar and, we hope, several that are new to you. Every year, it seems, there is a new song that becomes a classic – we hope that one is on today’s playlist.

Join us this afternoon for some great music that just might get you into the spirit of the season.

I’ll take a quiet life…
with no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
Silence, silence. – “No Surprises” by Radiohead

Ok, if you aren’t in the business of educating the people of America, you are probably not quite as focused on these frantic weeks of May as those of us who are (in the business of educating the people of America.) We approach commencement – or perhaps the end of fifth grade – either way, the end is nearing, and the weather being what it is, life is full of tension: study or go outside and run, read or fly a kite? Write a paper or go dancing in the streets? Library or a canoe on the river? Do you yearn for escape? For surprises? For a few moments of silence?

Today, Great River Radio will reflect a variety of moods, from sadness and quiet to boisterous and lively. It’s a spring mix, like fresh new leaves in a salad.

We’ve got new music from the Hold Steady, as well as from one of our favorite 2010 releases, The National’s “High Violet”, from Sweden’s Shout Out Louds and Canada’s Caribou, from our friends Rufus Wainwright, Shelby Lynne, The New Pornographers, Regina Spektor (with her new cover of the above quoted Radiohead song) and, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of one of the greatest albums of the last…well, 35 years, a different take on “Blood on the Tracks.”

Listen: a lot of the music we are playing today is by artists who are COMING TO OUR TOWN! This would be a great show to listen to if you are desiring to get out and hear some live music in the next few weeks. Or if you are just in the mood for new, beautiful music to settle you down or to rev you up. This is the place. This is Great River Radio.

GRR is planning two more shows to wind up this, our fourth season. Next week we’ll do another mix of fresh new music and favorites. On May 18th, we’ll close out the year with our favorite songs from the last season. (And then we’ll head up to the lake for the summer.)